Freedom of Choice
by Moon Hound Hati
Summary: After the final battle Harry Potter comes to understand that he is now completely free to make his own choices from here on out.  Written for the "The Day After The Final Battle Competition"  One-Shot


**Author's Note:** Written for the "The Day After The Final Battle Competition" by RozzyO on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum.

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**Freedom of Choice**

_Allow the world to live as it chooses, and allow yourself to live as you choose. _~Richard Bach

Daybreak.

The rising sun cast a long shadow over the opened tomb before him, the white stone surprisingly clean and mostly undamaged despite all the destruction that had happened around it.

Harry Potter took a deep breath as he turned his gaze towards the cloudy morning sky, a strange sensation spreading through every fibre of his body. It was a strange sense of relief he had never experienced before and it was suppressing his grief over the friends and comrades who fell in the final battle that took place but hours ago.

"I like it... This feeling."

That's right. Had he not _earned_ the right to just push away all the negative emotions – at least for a while – and bathe in this newfound sensation that had him feeling light on his feet?

But the question remained: what was this exotic new feeling within him?

Harry looked down at his hand, his fingers tightly gripping the handle of the Elder Wand. He had said that he was going to return the wand where it belonged, so here he was, in front of the opened white stone tomb of Albus Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione were not there with him, because he told them that he felt it was something he had to do by himself.

Taking a step forward, Harry lowered his hand over the tomb, the body within having been covered again by the sheet Voldemort had torn off so savagely in his quest for this very wand. Yet this was as far as he got.

"Why am I hesitating...?" Harry questioned himself aloud, more curious than anything.

"Because it's your choice, Harry."

He did not flinch or jump in surprise, the calm and even voice that spoke to him being all too familiar, having saved him just the night before from hopelessness.

"Luna." He turned his head to look at the wide eyed blond as she walked up and went to stand beside him. It never really occurred to him before, but having Luna around made Harry feel a bit more at ease and she always, somehow, made the world seem a little less complicated.

"What do you mean,_ 'because it's your choice'_?" he asked, his eyebrows slightly raised in curiosity.

"Don't you see, Harry? You have gained the freedom to make your own choices now, without anyone trying to coerce you to do one thing or another," Luna explained, looking up at him with her big silvery eyes, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Freedom... of choice...?" It took a moment, but then it hit Harry like ton of bricks dropped from a hundred feet high.

It started as a snort, but soon progressed to full on borderline maniacal laughter with tears of joy running down his cheeks. Harry had only now realized this new feeling. It was the freedom he had earned to make his own choices. No more prophecies, or evil maniacs, or manipulative old men, or corrupt government officials, or even oppressive relatives could stop or sway him from the choices he would make from here on out. Yes, Harry Potter was finally a free man that could pave his own path in life!

"Thank you, Luna... for making things clearer for me to see, again," he said once had calmed down again, giving her a heartfelt hug; something the _old Harry_ would have stopped himself to contemplate about for a minute or two.

"You're welcome, Harry," Luna responded, as if only natural for her to do, returning the hug with the same amount of feeling. "Now, go on, make your choice."

Harry nodded as he slowly took a step back turned once more to the opened tomb.

Right, this was _his_ choice to make, and his alone. He once more looked at the Elder Wand clutched tightly in his hand, of which he was now the master.

Harry Potter made his first real choice in life that morning, free of anyone trying to convince him to do one thing or another. The white tomb of Albus Dumbledore was then closed up once more, never to be disturbed again, and whether Harry had actually returned the wand or kept it for himself didn't matter, because it was _his_ choice.


End file.
